Five years after stepping onto the Pure Pitch Rally stage, Jordan Williams is proving that some of the best startup breakthroughs come from listening closely to customers.
Williams, co-founder of Kansas City startup Veeper, recently shared how the company evolved from helping Shopify merchants optimize discounts to tackling a much bigger challenge, and how the pivot is already delivering favorable results.
Originally built to personalize discounts and boost conversions, Veeper uncovered a costly problem affecting ecommerce brands everywhere. Browser extensions and coupon sites were scraping influencer and affiliate discount codes, spreading them beyond their intended audiences and creating major revenue leaks for brands. Rather than continue refining discount optimization, the team followed the market signal.
“We quickly realized brands cared way more about stopping a 20% leaked code than optimizing a 5% code,” Williams told Startland News.
Today, Veeper helps enterprise brands protect their profits by identifying leaked discount codes and preventing unnecessary affiliate commission payouts. The company is currently working with fast-growing ecommerce brands including Cozy Earth, Tommy John, Blenders Eyewear and Comfrt.
The resulting growth from this new direction has been significant. Veeper recently raised a $1.7 million pre-seed funding and is expanding their team as the startup continues to scale and profit.
Startup success rarely follows a straight trajectory, and Veeper’s story is a great example of how the product you set out to build can often uncover an even bigger opportunity. By paying attention to their customers’ pain points and having the courage to pivot, Williams and his team created a real-world solution to a problem that costs ecommerce brands millions each year, and positioned Veeper as yet another Kansas City startup success story.
